Any combination of results that included beating a very good Wild team would have been a good night for Bruins in the tightly contested Eastern Conference playoff race.
But as it turned out there was a lot more good to come from the night.
The Bruins started and ended the night as the No. 1 wild card team in the Eastern Conference. But the three teams below them, the Blue Jackets, Senators and Red Wings, all lost in regulation.
With 90 points and nine games to go, the Bruins (41-24-8) now have a three-point lead on Columbus (38-24-11, 87 points) and a four-point lead on both Ottawa (38-25-10) and Detroit (39-26-8), who each have 86 points.
Bruins’ odds of making the playoffs according to Money Puck:
83.2%
Below is a look at the races that involve Boston:
Atlantic Division
Top three automatically earn a playoff spot
Eastern Conference Wild Card
Top two teams reach the playoffs
Saturday’s Results impacting Bruins’ playoff races
N.Y. Islanders 5, Florida 2
Tampa Bay 4, Ottawa 2
Carolina 5, New Jersey 2
Boston 6, Minnesota 3
San Jose 3, Columbus 2
Dallas 6, Pittsburgh 3
Buffalo 3, Seattle 2, SO
Montreal 4, Nashville 1
Philadelphia 5, Detroit 3
Washington at Vegas, (N)
Sunday’s Games
Florida at N.Y. Rangers, 1 p.m.
Boston at Columbus, 5 p.m.
Montreal at Carolina, 5 p.m.
Nashville at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m.
Chicago at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Dallas at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
If Playoffs Began Today
Eastern Conference
Metropolitan 1 Carolina vs. Wild Card 2 Columbus
Atlantic 1 Buffalo vs. WC 1 Boston
A2 Tampa Bay vs. A3 Montreal
M2 N.Y. Islanders vs. M3 Pittsburgh
Bruins’ remaining schedule
March 29 at Columbus,5 p.m.
March 31 vs Dallas, 7 p.m.
April 2 at Florida,7 p.m.
April 4 at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m.
April 5 at Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m.
April 7 at Carolina, 7 p.m.
April 11 vs Tampa Bay, 12:30 p.m.
April 12 at Columbus, 6 p.m.
April 14 vs New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Where Bruins draft pick from Maple Leafs currently sits
Toronto’s first round pick transfers to Boston as long as it doesn’t land in the top five.
Fifth.
If the standings hold and nobody behind Toronto wins the lottery, the Leafs will keep their own drat pick, which would be disappointing for the Bruins.
The Maple Leafs currently have the fifth worst points percentage at .514 (31-30-13, 75 points) with 8 games left.
Maple Leafs remaining schedule